Many posts have discussed the US military.
As of the end of March, the U.S. military had 1.32 million active-duty members, according to DMDC figures. This is an increase of 1.5% over the year prior, when there were about 1.30 million. (Active-duty military are those who work for the military full time. They do not include personnel in the Reserve or National Guard.)
Nearly 450,000 active-duty military members serve in the Army, the most of any military branch. The Navy has the second-largest number of active-duty members (about 334,000), followed by the Air Force and Marine Corps. The Coast Guard and Space Force are much smaller, with fewer than 50,000 active-duty members each.
All branches of the military have gained active-duty members in the past year. The Navy has gained the most in overall numbers (about 7,300). The Space Force and the Coast Guard have grown the most in percentage terms (6.1% and 3.4%, respectively).
Active-duty military members are assigned to work in every state and internationally, according to DMDC data. A large majority (86%) are stationed domestically, while 14% are stationed internationally.
The number of active-duty military working in each state varies greatly, based partly on the locations of military bases. California has the most active-duty military, with about 157,500. Virginia and Texas also have more than 100,000.
Six states have fewer than 1,000 active-duty military, and Vermont has the fewest of all with 128.
Some branches of the military have an especially large footprint in certain states:Texas has about 65,400 active-duty Army members, about 16,000 more than any other state. There are five Army bases there, the second-most of any state after Virginia.
Virginia (73,500) and California (72,500) have by far the most active-duty Navy members. No other state has even half that many, even though states like Florida, Maryland and Washington have roughly similar numbers of naval bases.
Colorado has about 4,300 active-duty Space Force members, nearly three times more than any other state. Three of the nation’s six Space Force bases are in Colorado
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